


There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

by actualkit



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon Universe, During Canon, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, POV Jean, Serious Injuries, implied kevjean, jean calls neil by his birthname because it made sense, pro incest shippers stay away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 00:24:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17436329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualkit/pseuds/actualkit
Summary: Jean gives Neil the letter from Kayleigh Day about Kevin's father.





	There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

**Author's Note:**

> I don't beta my fics, so there may be an error or two. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.  
> Title is a song by The Smiths.

Jean asked, in a cool tone, "Does he know?"  
  
Nathaniel looked up.   
  
One eye was swollen, so that he was unable to open it. The other had an angled streak of indigo under it, from the inner corner of the eye to his cheek bone, as though someone had painted it there.  
  
He wetted his cracked lips before replying.  
  
"Does who know what?"  
  
"Does your coach know that he is Kevin's father?" Jean clarified.  
  
Nathaniel thought about it with knitted brows, then gave a half shrug. "I don't think so. I doubt Kevin has it in him to tell Wymack that."  
  
Jean nodded in understanding. Next, he asked, "can you walk?"  
  
"I'm standing, aren't I?" Nathaniel sighed.  
  
"That is not an answer. Can you walk? Can you walk without too much pain?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"Then follow me," Jean said, "but be quiet."  
  
"Why? Where're we-"  
  
"Walls have ears, Wesninski" said Jean.  
  
"Josten" said Nathaniel.  
  
Jean was not in the mood to humour the runaway with his fake identity, so ignored the comment, and began to lead Nathaniel down the hall to the court.  
  
Living in the Nest for the majority of his life meant his eyes were accustomed to dim lighting. There was no need to switch on the lights to find his way. Besides, that would alert people to their presence, and Jean was confident that he would quite like to keep his teeth for the time being, if only for a little while longer.

He pressed open the door with a slow push of his fingertips, keeping an ear out for any oncoming footsteps. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he ushered Nathaniel inside with a wave of his hand.

They crept behind the bleachers with Jean taking hold of Nathaniel’s shoulder to guide him in the darkness.

Jean fished out the lighter he’d slipped away from Kevin’s old room and gave a hard press of his thumb.

Neither he nor Kevin were smokers, and both shuddered at the thought of willingly ruining yourself from the inside out; however, when in need of just enough light to see and not enough to wake someone, a lighter did the trick.

They came to a stop a few rows along.

“Why are we here?” whispered Nathaniel.

Jean turned to face him, holding the ever warming lighter up between them.

“When Kayleigh Day found out that she was pregnant, she wrote a letter to the Master” Jean explained. “Kevin and I… discovered the letter in question when we were in high school, in the Master’s office draw.”

“And you keep telling me to play it safe!” Nathaniel scoffed.

Jean clapped a hand to Nathaniel’s mouth. “ _Quiet_. We should not have been digging around, you are right about that.”

Nathaniel pried away Jean’s bony fingers. “So, why were you?”

“That is none of your _business_ or concern _._ ”

He was met with a scowl, but Jean didn’t care.

“Coach Day was fully aware of the fact that Coach Wymack was the father, and she told the Master as much in her letter,” Jean continued. “Prior to Kevin and me getting our hands on it, she and the Master alone were the only ones who knew the identity of Kevin’s father.”

The lighter was getting hotter beneath his thumb.

Nathaniel seemed to chew at the inside of his mouth in thought. The shadows cast from the tiny flame made his bruises appear darker and the scratches Riko had carved down Nathaniel’s forehead and cheeks with his fingernails look so much deeper than they were.

None of Nathaniel’s injuries shocked Jean, as he had seen them on his own face or someone else’s many times.

What continuedly shocked Jean was Nathaniel’s nerve. He’d had enough nerve to verbally abuse Riko at the first banquet, to physically attack him at the second, to actually come here instead of going back on the run, and to repeatedly talk back even when he (and Jean) paid terribly for it.

Nathaniel Wesninski was a suicidal moron… and Jean’s last shot to do something that could cement Kevin’s freedom.

Jean turned from him and traced his hand to the place he and Kevin had hidden Kayleigh’s letter all those years ago. Once he felt the texture of paper against his skin, he drew it towards him with his fingertips. Then, he turned back to Nathaniel and held the letter out to him.

“Why are you showing it to me?” Nathaniel asked.

“Because you need to take this back to Palmetto State with you.”

Nathaniel’s working eye widened. “You want me to show Wymack?”

Jean shrugged. “Kevin is strong in his own way, but he is also scared. If you give this back to him, then perhaps it will give him the courage he needs to tell his father the truth. God knows the Master won’t, and I have no way of telling Coach Wymack myself. Pack this letter tonight, so that you won’t forget it.”

He pressed the letter to Nathaniel’s chest and waited for him to take it.

Nathaniel turned it over his hands a few times before looking at up Jean.

“You care about him” he said, softly. “You don’t actually want him to come back, do you? You still care about him and you want him to stay safe.”

Jean scoffed, “he will never be safe as long as the Moriyama’s rule. I just think it would be best if there was one less liar on the Foxes, until you get dragged back here, of course, then I suppose it will be up to Doe.”

Nathaniel’s hand shot in front of him, holding up a finger. “First of all, his name is Minyard. Andrew Minyard, and he fucking _hates_ liars. Which you’d know, if you weren’t hellbent on being a total ass” he hissed.

He flicked up another finger. “Second, I’m not coming back here to play for Captain Cunt, I’m coming back to wipe the court floor with his face at Nationals.

“Finally, third-” he held up three fingers to Jean’s eyes, then lowered his hand and glared. “-You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, and I am _the_ bullshitter.”

Nathaniel raised his arms up as high as he could bare to get them and declared, “I am… _Mr. Bullshit!_ ” He lowered his arms. “And you are willing to face danger alone if it means he doesn’t have to anymore.”

The heat of the lighter became too much, so Jean pulled his thumb away. He welcomed back the darkness; it meant Nathaniel wouldn’t see his face.

“What of it?” Jean asked.

In the still silence, all Jean could hear was Nathaniel take a breath. Then, he heard Nathaniel tell him, “I came here for Andrew. You stay here for Kevin. You and I are not that different.”

Jean didn’t like the implications of that statement. Not one bit.

“I need to get you to your room before Riko comes back, or we’ll be even more fucked.”

He found Nathaniel’s shoulder and squeezed it hard. “You will bring his mother’s letter back to Palmetto, yes?”

Nothing was said for a while, which made Jean’s heart thud in his chest.

“Yes” said Nathaniel.

Jean sighed deeply.

“Good,” he said, “then we are done here.”

He sparked up the lighter again, and lead Nathaniel to the exit.


End file.
